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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29357769">Iridescent</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmolMo/pseuds/SmolMo'>SmolMo</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Haikyuu!!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Meet-Cute, More like meet-ugly, References to classical art, Sendai Museum, Tsukishima Kei is Bad at Feelings, Tsukishima and Y/N hate eachother, Y/n had a list of bad nicknames for Tsukishima Kei, Yachi is our lady and saviour, Yachi tried, she really did, smau, tsukishimaxreader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 02:40:04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>10,882</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29357769</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmolMo/pseuds/SmolMo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“You gotta be kidding me…” a groan from across you snapped you back into action. The initial shock from your collision seeped into anger, clinging to your skin as the fabric of your pale pink shirt did. You saw him.</p><p>Tsukishima fucking Kei in his freakish tall glory, dressed in tan brown slacks and a white shirt, looking like he was better than everyone else and condescending expression to match his outfit.</p><p>He could have looked very handsome, with light blonde hair and light brown eyes who dared to have golden flecks in it. Freaking audacity. He was tall, muscular, actually had some brain capacity, and dressed very nicely. He was also Satan personified.</p><p>“CAN YOU FOR ONCE WATCH WERE YOUR GOING?” he snapped at you from under his glasses and for checked his messenger bag.</p><p>College Student Tsukishima Kei meets Art History Student and messy bun enthusiast Y/N.</p><p>It's not a meet cute...it's a meet ugly<br/>Bi-weekly updates</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Tsukishima Kei/Reader, Yachi Hitoka/Yamaguchi Tadashi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>42</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Sunflower</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p>Fuck!</p><p>You were running...running late, that is. Footsteps echoed through the empty hallways of Sendai University.  Black converse squeaked on the floor as you turned to charge up a flight of stairs and put your sorry excuses for lungs into additional trauma.</p><p>Only because you were merciful (and indeed not because you felt your burning legs threaten to give out), you stopped on top of the stairway.  While you were tried to catch your breath and reached for something to drink out of the side pocket of your canvas backpack.</p><p>The burning of your lungs matched the pricking sensation in your reddened eyes, who had not yet recovered from all the tears you spilled last night over stupid Satoshi. </p><p>Fortuna was really smiling down at you today; you realized when you saw that you’d forgotten your water bottle.  With a loud groan, you zipped your backpack open to grab another bottle with the thickly yellow liquid. </p><p>A smoothie your dear roommate made you before you had woken up, and he had gone to morning practice. The beverage’s color was pretty, a rich sunflower orange but right now too bright for your swollen and puffy eyes. </p><p>You took a sip, winced because the Banana-mango-turmeric smoothie had too much turmeric in. Once more, you thought, why again you decided to rent an apartment far away from the campus. Why couldn’t you live in the dorms nearby? </p><p>Then again, your city apartment under the roof had access to a special storage room in the attic, and you needed that space. And your roommate can cook…and took take of you if he wasn’t being a complete imbecile of doing anything right concerning chores. Seriously, he was a whole year older than you…why was he such a mess?</p><p>Distracted by the earthy taste of the drink, you forgot the reason why you were drinking this in the first place…you were late to class,</p><p>“CURSE you” you yelled at the liquid in the bottle, it didn’t answer, and you hastily screwed on the cap before you started moving again. One more hallway, a sharp turn left, and collided with a wall…you didn’t remember that someone has built. </p><p>The heck?? Why was there a wall in the middle of the hallway?<br/>
The impact made you stumble backward and slip, and you had just enough reflexes to tilt a little, so you fell sideways and didn’t crush your backpack, which had your tablet in it. It still hurt; thankfully, it was your left shoulder you fell on. </p><p>Before you could comprehend what happened, you felt something wet and icy cold seeped into the fabric of your blouse. The liquid smelled familiar, coffee…and as you glanced down, you saw a prominent patch of the brown drink blooming on your chest. </p><p>Oh, no… you had to work this afternoon and wouldn’t have time to get something to change because your apartment was too far from campus to do so.</p><p>“You gotta be kidding me…” a groan from across you snapped you back into action. The initial shock from your collision seeped into anger, clinging to your skin as the fabric of your pale pink shirt did. You saw him. </p><p>Tsukishima fucking Kei in his freakish tall glory, dressed in tan brown slacks and a white shirt, looking like he was better than everyone else and condescending expression to match his outfit. </p><p>He could have looked very handsome, with light blonde hair and light brown eyes who dared to have golden flecks in it. Freaking audacity.  He was tall, muscular, actually had some brain capacity, and dressed very nicely. He was also Satan personified.</p><p>“CAN YOU FOR ONCE WATCH WERE YOUR GOING?” he snapped at you from under his glasses and for checked his messenger bag. </p><p>He sighed in relief as he saw that his own laptop wasn’t broken but groaned at the empty cut of iced coffee he must have gotten from outside the campus.</p><p>“BACK AT YA,” you snapped, struggling to get up to gather you on things and shoot deadly glares at the bane of your university life. You hated that guy ever since the first year of uni. </p><p>The iced coffee was soaking your shirt, and you couldn’t risk that the light blazer you wore to be ruined too, so you proceeded to shrug it off while muttering, “I thought those ugly glasses are there to help you see.”</p><p>“You need to pay me back for that drink you made me spill.” the blonde replied. </p><p>Tsukishima bent down to retrieve the plastic cup. Grimacing at the lack of content and tossed it into a bin close by, so painfully accurately. Just with a flick of his wrist. It looked so effortlessly that you blinked at the bin for a few seconds in awe. </p><p>Fine, he was good; you admitted that, but the fact that he seemed to be so good at this made you hate him even more—the freaking audacity!!!</p><p>Then your head whipped around to stare him in his stupid brown eyes “The fuck I will do Tsukishima! You ran into me! How about you paying for dry cleaning?”</p><p>“For that shirt?” he sneered, “I know that you don’t have a sense of fashion L/N, but even you must notice that it’s clear to everyone that you are wearing a discolored shirt. Did you get dressed blindfolded in the dark or was it a dare?” </p><p>Unfortunately, his statement was true. Your stupid roommate had accidentally sneaked in a red sock alongside his own clothes when you did laundry the other day, so all of your white clothes came out pink.  You had indeed just grabbed the shirt from your room in a rush. It wasn’t really usable as clothing but was an excellent rag to clean. So you had put it on your desk to cut it and accidentally grabbed it this morning.</p><p>Why did he have to be so painfully right in his observation….it infuriated you.</p><p>Stupid Puppy-Senpai-Roommate, this was all his fault. Maybe you should kill him? ….but then again, he could cook…still.</p><p>Yeah, you would have to kill him one day...maybe tonight(after dinner), but you didn’t really know how to get away with murder just yet...and those things need planning. Besides, he’d tried to make it up to you by making the smoothie...</p><p>However, before you could retort something, Tsukishima cursed again when he realized that your clothing wasn’t the only one that a drink was spilled on.  On his tan pants was a long line of orange smoothie across the mids of his thighs, to be exact. </p><p>Although the smoothie wasn’t as quick to seep in as the coffee. It would, however, definitely leave a permanent stain. </p><p>You snorted in grim satisfaction, serves him right.</p><p>“The fuck you’re laughing about?” Tsukishima snapped as he frantically tried to dab away the stains with tissue, no a handkerchief from his pocket. Because, of course, he’d have one of those...pretentious prick.</p><p>“Looks like peed yourself,” you sniggered and grabbed the half-empty smoothie bottle from the ground. Thankfully, because until lunch, this was your only possibility to drink. You capped the bottle and secured it in your bag as Tsukishima still tried to get him cleaned off. </p><p>You noticed the glares he was sending you, but you frankly didn’t care and wanted to get moving.</p><p>“Oi…Short Stuff!” you heard his voice yell out as soon as you made a few steps. “Class is this way….” He pointed the finger at the door to the lecture hall you didn’t realize had been there because you and Tsukishima had collided right in front of.</p><p>“I knew that!” you retorted, spinning on your heel and stomping your way back.</p><p>Tsukishima grunted in frustration as he saw that the stain on his pants was permanent, and he shot a glare at you, grumbling something about you ruining his appearance.</p><p>“Serves you right evil spawn,” you spit out, put your hand on the lecture hall door. “If you’re so self-conscious about your appearance pretty boy, go ahead and go home to change…”</p><p>“Then I would miss the lecture you idiot…” he rolled his eyes and eyed you up and down. “and don’t you talk about fashion sense…”</p><p>You glanced down yourself. Black converse, a loose-fitting, paint-splattered, ripped light washed blue jeans, a pinkish white blouse, tugged in, and a black blazer that was secured safely in your backpack. What the heck was he talking about?</p><p>“Look who is self-conscious about appearance now?” he sneered.</p><p> “Fuck you Tsukishima!” </p><p>“Get going or get lost Pipsqueak,” he simply replied and put his hands over yours to push down the door handle and push the heavy door open.</p><p>“Hands off,” you hissed, pulling your own hand away from under his. It felt like it was burning.</p><p> Tsukishima hissed, “Shut up.” since the lecture had already started. </p><p>The two of you sneaked into the last row of the lecture hall. Luckily your professor was one of those who kept on talking and didn’t mind an interruption by late students. </p><p>The Art History professor was one of the more elderly professors and had seen and heard every excuse for tardiness that he simply stopped caring. As long as you settled in quietly and didn’t interrupt class with made-up reasons, he didn’t bother with reprimanding students and dealing with possible paperwork.</p><p>At this point, you doubt that anything would interrupt Chūkū-sensei from his monologues about European art history. Not even his own death.</p><p>You noticed that he glanced up at the two of you, though, and gave you a short nod and the hint of a smile on his lips, which reflected on your own as well. </p><p>You grabbed your tablet and stylus from your bag, opting for handwritten notes because you already had downloaded Chūkū-sensei’s slides.<br/>
Being his student assistants had its merits, after all.  </p><p>Tsukishima, next to you, groaned because he missed the first few slides, and you noticed his darting eyes on you as you scribbled something into your notes.</p><p>“What?” you hissed from the corner of your mouth.</p><p>“Do you have the slides?” he groaned and sounded like he didn’t believe that he was asking you for them.</p><p>“Awww….Tsukki are you asking me for a favor?” you grinned, eyes fixated on the tiny-looking professor far in front of you. From this far up, he looked like a cloud with his fluffy white hair and beard.</p><p>“Nevermind …” he started to say but stopped when you flipped the cover of the tablet.</p><p>“Make it quick,” you retorted and handed him the device, “You just missed slides 1-7.”</p><p>“Thanks…” he grunted.</p><p> You smirked, cocking an eyebrow amused. “What was that?” </p><p>“You got pain on your nails…..” Tsukishima pointed out, and you glanced at your fingers…. indeed. Apparently, you hadn’t cleaned up your hands enough after your late-night painting escapades. </p><p>Grumbling, you tried scraped the paint off your nails and swore you could hear Tsukishima mutter something along the lines of disgusting.</p><p>You couldn’t care less. Who did this guy think he was. You were nice to him a second ago, and he repaid your kindness by telling you that you looked gruesome?</p><p>You had more significant issues you noted as you glanced down and still saw the now drying patch of brown on your chest. </p><p>You needed a hero…and decided to text the biggest savior you knew.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The ninety-minute lecture went over slowly, but you didn’t mind listening to Chūkū-sensei’s joyful little rants.<br/>
As his student assistant, you knew this lecture’s outline. Frankly, you helped the elderly sensei make those presentation slides and helped him with his computer.</p><p>You leaned forward on the desk, chin propped up on your palm, and fiddled with the stylus entranced by his words of brush stroke techniques. </p><p>The lecture was slowly coming to an end because Chūkū-sensei was revising some of his points, so the lecture hall relaxed, and some started to stretch out their limbs.</p><p>The soft tapping of fingertips across the laptop keyboard next to you stopped, and you peered over your shoulder to glance at Tsukishima, quickly rubbing the corner of his eyes, suppressing a yawn. For a second, you could have sworn that he had been looking at you…and were unsure whether you had something on your face?</p><p>“What are you looking at?” he snapped at you while you shrugged. “Better write that down…I think it’ll be on the exam.”</p><p>You turned around and noticed with smug satisfaction that he hastily started tapping something into his computer, but Chūkū-sensei already shut down the presenter, and the last slide was gone. </p><p>There was another thing about Chūkū-sensei’s lectures…if you didn’t show up to class…you didn’t have a chance to get the lesson’s content because even though he used slides, he didn’t put them online for access. Once he was done with a presentation…you were done taking notes. Simple.</p><p>“Bad Luck” you smirked and closed your tablet so Tsukishima couldn’t peek at your own notes. </p><p>“Tsk,” he huffed, “You’re just lucky that you’re a little teacher’s pet…”</p><p>“Jealous? If you were nicer I’d offer you my notes.” You rolled your eyes at him. “But since you were a jerk earlier and now I won’t.”</p><p>“I’ll still get the better grade” Tsukishima grabbed his things and stood up as the other’s in the lecture hall did the same. </p><p>You remained seated because you had back to back classes in this lecture hall and wanted to wait before going down to personally apologize to Chūkū-sensei for your tardiness.</p><p>Tsukishima hesitated as if he was waiting for you to retort something. You did but waited until a few of your peers were closer.</p><p>“Don’t worry Tsukishima-san, nobody will notice that large yellow pee stain on your trousers,” you said loud enough for them to hear but not loud enough that it reached sensei’s ears.</p><p>Some of them glared at Tsukishima’s pants and sniggered behind.</p><p>Tsukishima snarled an insult at you and hurried out of class, trying to escape the snickering glances more of your peers.</p><p>You waited until the hall was empty, then grabbed your bag and skipped down the stairs to talk to your sensei. He wasn’t angry, maybe a bit concerned about your whole attire. Yes, he commented on your reddened eyes and asked if everything was okay, but you quickly assured him that it was stupid boy trouble, and he chuckled in response.</p><p>The two of you checked your next meet up for the slides you had to prepare and some scans you had to make from a book in the library, then he off wished you a nice day and fun at work later. He knew about it because Chūkū-sensei was the one who recommended you for the job at the museum.</p><p>You settled down in the fourth row for your next lecture held by a relatively young professor keen on class participation. By the time this class was done, you were three things. </p><p>Hungry, thirsty, and tired. The smoothie didn’t help much for doing anything against your problems. You grabbed a coffee on your way to the cafeteria, where you’d meet Hitoka.</p><p>You met the soft girl at the start of your university life, and you had shared some basic art classes. But since she was going for Ad Design and you were more into Historical Arts, your paths split academically.</p><p>“Y/N-chan!” she said as soon as she saw you standing in front of the vending machine.</p><p>“Hitoka-chan, my lady and savoir bless the heaven’s you’re here!” you gave her a small hug, and she then presented you a bag with several clothes.</p><p>“I brought you a blouse and the grey pullover you left at my place the other day,” Yachi grinned, holding up a finger. “I don’t want you to get a cold.”</p><p>“It’s still pretty warm outside… it’s barely September.”</p><p>“Nights still get chilly and as I know you’ll end up staying at the museum for way to long” she grinned, then glanced at the Onigiri you were holding in your other hand.</p><p>“What’s this?”</p><p>“Lunch, Hitoka…” you stated simply and saw her rolling her eyes at you.</p><p>“You need to eat something proper,” she scolded. </p><p>“I also have a banana, an apple and a mueli and a chocolate bar” you said proudly, to which she just sighed “Join us for lunch….Tadashi wouldn’t mind really…”</p><p>“I don’t mind Yamaguchi-kun,” you stated. “He’s nice but his friend is another thing…and speaking of the devil.”</p><p>Yachi turned around to see that Yamaguchi Tadashi, an engineering student, approached Tsukishima, your personal devil.</p><p>“Ew…” he said, giving you a second of his time, nodded at Yachi and busied himself with his phone.</p><p>“Y/N-san!” Yamaguchi said after he greeted Hitoka with a small kiss on her temple. Yeah…not together, my ass, you thought, “Are you joining us?”</p><p>“Can’t sorry…” you smiled at the freckled guy. “I gotta run…thanks for offering though… you’re so nice and have such manners.”</p><p>Not like some other guy. You shot a glance at Tsukishima, who didn’t look up from his phone, and commented with a smirk.</p><p>“Nice blouse L/N.”</p><p>“Fuck you Tsukishima,” you grunted. He apparently had time to change into other pants, so you couldn’t come up with a better insult. </p><p>“Yeah, no thanks…” he shrugged. “Yamaguchi… I’m heading inside…someone is smelling like sweat and moldy coffee…pitiful really.”</p><p>When he sneered at you, you flipped him off. </p><p>What a bastard. Joining them for lunch…yeah, right…no one would ever make you spend more time with Tsukishima than necessary. It was bad enough that the two of you shared classes…most of the time, you avoided the lanky linguine like the pest. </p><p>But enough thoughts wasted on the human embodiment of the dead sea. You had work later, and that would be stressful and loud enough, so you’d better calm down before the big rush.</p><p>Your second job was at the Sendai Museum. It didn’t pay much, but it allowed you to slide an intern position. The compulsory internship would start soon, and you hoped they would give you more significant responsibilities.<br/>
Sometimes you give guided tours to school groups. However, your main job was to give afternoon art classes to grade-schoolers. Sometimes the kids were just too unruly. On other days they worked fine and were angels. </p><p>Since the colleague you usually worked with, a middle-aged woman, had a baby, the workload doubled up the last few weeks.</p><p>Thankfully the group that visited today was supervised by their charming young teacher, who seemed to have experience in calming down little tornados. </p><p>He wasn’t much older than you but made an effort to visit with his class as often. It turned out that their primary school had decided to come by every week, formed an art club because they liked the program, and send the young teacher to chaperone the club.</p><p>As the program was dubbed, little Leo’s Art Class was there to educate the kids about famous artists and recreate their paintings and sculptures. You first told a story about the artist and then instructed them while they painted. Today’s work was Van Gogh’s sunflowers, and the kids were allowed to use acrylic paint on their little canvases.</p><p>They brushed and dabbed their pain brushes turning white into bright colors.<br/>
Afterward, they helped to clean up, and the handsome grey-haired teacher assisted you in helping the kids clean and put away the brushes the right way. Before they thanked you and went back to school.</p><p>You cleaned up afterward, looked that the canvases were put away safely to dry. That the brushes, containers, and tables were properly cleaned and checked. No one had left something behind before you settled down to study a little bit in the quiet of the small studio. Another group was supposed to be here, but they’d canceled because of a sudden flu outbreak in the school. </p><p>You were halfway through your revision when someone knocked at the door, and soon after, your supervisor entered the door with a smile “Ahhh..L/N-san…I thought I would catch you here…everything done?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes, Hokusai-san…everything is cleaned…I only had one class today the last one canceled on my…so I’m studying if that is okay…” you said and put down the apple you were chewing.</p><p>“That’s too bad...I thought we could have caught you while you were so high spirited and in your element.” he said with a smile. “Anyway…. I wanted to introduce your new colleague for you. He’ll be working mainly as a guide and will intern here alongside you.”</p><p>A new colleague? Intern? So soon? As far as you knew, they were just starting the job interviews today.</p><p>“Yes, I was surprised too…but he just came to the job interview and was perfect fit…” he smiled once more and glanced back. “Don’t be shy boy….come in…introduce yourself…”</p><p>You stood up and tugged down the apron you were waiting you stood, then lifted your head to smile at the newcomer. But as you saw him, your smile died on your face.</p><p>The same happened to his face with the difference that the newcomer wasn’t smiling in the first place. </p><p>“Oh…you know each other already?” Hokusai’s eyes shined as he saw the recognition in both of your faces.</p><p>“Yes…” Tsukishima Kei said shortly.<br/>
He had changed yet again, dressed in a dark brown blazer and matching slacks. </p><p>He closed his eyes for a second as if he had to made sure he wasn’t hallucinating. You did the same…nope, still there….</p><p>“Peachy!” Hokusai clapped his hands. “If you know each other you’ll get along just fine! Looking forward to a good and prosperous corporation you two.”</p><p> </p><p>Fuck!</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Pastel Green</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Warnings: Cursing<br/>↳🎨 A/N: Chapter Two where we get to know a little more about our two Characters and some of Y/n’s  close friends also make an introduction</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p> </p><p>One day I swear I’m going to strangle you and whip that stupid condescending expression off your face!</p><p>You thought as Tsukishima-Freaking-Kei trotted through the halls of the museum behind you. He easily kept pace with you since his long legs were able to take bigger strides making him practically breathe down your neck. Of course, you fastened your steps accordingly and were basically speed walking through the museum.</p><p>Since you had been working here longer and knew all the quirks and happenings backstage, Hokusai had left Tsukishima in your care to get him familiarized with the museum and give him a tour.</p><p>Tsukishima looked bored and disinterested. You shortly explained that the break room with the employee bathroom was used by everyone. They all took turns in getting baked goods and coffee for bi-weekly meetings. You showed him the little smoker balcony that had steps leading into a small outdoor rock garden with a bench and atrium with an old water fountain that was broken.</p><p>Then you showed him the equipment room, told him how to work the little headsets and audio guides for tours, and explained how to fix the most common issues regarding the manuals and headsets.</p><p>“We have tours every other day…the number varies every time, but you’ll be informed about an hour before how many are coming. Regardless you have to show up because sometimes there are people who spontaneously decide to stop by,” you explained and hurried along.</p><p>Tsukishima didn’t seem to have any issues keeping up with you and remained silent the whole time, hands buried in the pockets of his slacks.</p><p>The sole of your sneakers made you slip again on the shiny museum floor.</p><p>You hoped Tsukishima didn’t see that and continued, “In the break room is a red flash drive with the information about the different tours. You can also use the link Hokusai-san must have sent you already to log into our drop box and download it…Yeah…”</p><p>You turned around the corner, used your employee pass to get access to the hallway you had started your tour in, and finally went back to the big room used for art classes.</p><p>“So here we are again for the room we use for the Little Leo’s art classes…” you said and swung your arms back and forth, hands clutched into little fists as you turned around on the balls of your feet to face him. “</p><p>We have two days where we offer the art classes and usually have two groups visit each time. Also, on special holidays…kinda obvious, right? So on Thursdays, we have a  school that comes regularly…the ones who just left us these pictures.”</p><p>You pointed towards the corner of the room where several thin canvases were hung up on a string to dry.</p><p>“Impressive really,” Tsukishima’s voice was laced with obvious sarcasm as his golden eyes darted over the paintings accessing each one with a calm and calculating gaze. His eyes stopped at one particular picture which stood out against the others. One because instead of the simple design of sunflowers in a vase, the painter had drawn a dinosaur eating a sunflower. Second, the said dinosaur was painted using an almost neon green and wearing a big black spot on his eyes that were supposed to be sunglasses.</p><p>Tsukishima snorted the corner of his lips twitched, you almost thought that he was amused if he didn’t use words that were obviously meant sarcastically, “Brilliant.”</p><p>“Be nice,” you warned and crossed your arms. “They’re kids after all…and Izuku-kun worked really hard on this…”</p><p>Indeed, even though little freckled Izuku somehow always managed to include dinosaurs in his artworks, he always worked on his craft with focus. He never let anyone of his peers distract him and asked questions in a gentle and kind voice.</p><p>“He missed the whole point of the picture,” Tsukishima scoffed. “If I’d be their teacher I’d fail him for that.”</p><p>“Excuse a 7-year-old to have fun in a voluntary art class” you rolled your eyes. “Besides, we’re not here to give them grades Tsukishima.”</p><p>His eyes met yours, and you felt like he wanted to add something but just silently nudged up his chin, urging you to go on with your tour.</p><p>“Yeah, so your predecessor and I decided on a curriculum, which is also in the dropbox…you can also have a look in my…our…desk over there in the top drawer. The materials and cleaning supplies are in the backroom…but don’t worry. The teachers and guardians always make sure that they work and clean neatly. Any more questions?</p><p>“No, since you so generously supplied me with every unnecessary detail,” Tsukishima sighed, a  condescending expression on his face. “Hope you don’t talk that much during work too…”</p><p>“Excuse me for doing what I was aksked by my boss” you rolled your eyes. “I’m just making sure you understood everything…otherwise It would come back to me…so Tsukishima, do you have any more question regarding the job?”</p><p>He darted his eyes up and down your figure. “Do I also have to dress in the ridiculous manner you decide to present yourself in.”</p><p>You were wearing the same thing this morning, ripped paint-splattered jeans, black converse, and a white shirt under the painter overall. Your blazer and pullover were draped over the chair at the desk.</p><p>“Well you can dress however you like in here,” you gritted through your teeth. “If you want your fancy pants to be messed up by paint and clay…go on wear your damn suits.”</p><p>“At least I don’t look like I’m the cleaning lady when I work,” Tsukishima shrugged.</p><p>“Cleaning Lady,” you shrieked. “You look like a Walmart Draco Malfoy in that get up. Tell me do you look so constipated because of the stick up your ass or were you born this way.”</p><p>Tsukishima closed his eyes for a second and breathed out, “Annoying and vulgar….great.”</p><p>He ignored you standing in the classroom cross-armed and walked around you to the desk to look at the curriculum and class schedule. His calm gaze analyzed the chart and your handwritten notes as he flipped through the binder.</p><p>Meanwhile, you took off the apron you were wearing and hung it up on a hook in the supply room. Then checked if you put away the things and returned with Tsukishima leaning on the desk with the weight of his body in one hand while the folder was in his other, propped up against his hip.</p><p>You pulled the pullover you were wearing over your head and calmly folded it on one of the tables. It was still warm outside, and the early September air was a little too much to wear both pullover and blazer. Autumn was your favorite season. There were times when the light hit just right, golden magical, and slowly nature showed its beauty in all its colorful glory. Leaves, puddles, the cute fashion oh… and sunflowers.</p><p>He looked like a very young professor out of a novel or the cool character out of an online simulation dating game. You thought for a second, then shook your head. What the hell?</p><p>Maybe he had the looks and cleaned up nicely, but his crappy personality drowned the little attractive factor he had.</p><p>Once more, your eyes darted towards the illustrations of the children; they really had worked hard on them, you thought, smiling to yourself. Especially after you told the kids that sunflowers were one of your favorite flowers, they even got more excited. They worked on their craft like they never worked before.</p><p>You turned around to face the desk again and could have sworn that Tsukishima had looked at you for a second, but when you approached, his gaze was transfixed on the folder in his hands.</p><p>“You’re focusing on painting basically” he assessed, and you rolled your eyes.</p><p>“Duh,” you rolled your eyes. Also, you leaned on the desk with the free hand that wasn’t holding the pullover, trying to peek at the folder. Still, Tsukishima was holding it above your vision.</p><p>“I’m a painter…would be stupid if I tried to do anything else” you stated “I sometimes throw in a little clay and do some sculpting…but I’m not that good in it. The kids enjoy it. Are you okay with the schedule…?”</p><p>“I don’t paint” Tsukishima stated.</p><p>“Yeah, you just criticize” you rolled your eyes “Why did you apply for this job if you  under qualify? Ah right, Tsukishima and his big ego.”</p><p>“You don’t need to talk about size, pipsqueak” he deadpanned “But then again it’s the only thing you seem to be able to do…talk…”</p><p>“And there he is being all defensive because he can’t admit that he is not up for the job” you sneered, then grabbed the folder out of his hands “Since we have to divide the classes we need to talk about the schedule. For the record I’m keeping the Thursday one…I like the kids and the teacher is nice.”</p><p>Tsukishima scoffed “You have a crush on the teacher… that’s the only reason right?”</p><p>“I do not!” you clearly stated, but something told you that Tsukishima didn’t believe you.</p><p>“Not my problem…” Tsukishima rolled his eyes “Take them…go thirst after the teacher…like I care.”</p><p>“I’m not thirsting after the teacher” you stated and pushed off the table “He is just a gentleman…unlike you”</p><p>You stepped around him and tried to squeeze between Tsukishima’s lean back and the wall to get to your bag and the chair.</p><p>“Watch it,” he hissed as you pushed him a little.</p><p>“Move over will ya” you snarled back before grabbing the blazer that was draped over your bag and checking your phone. It was already later than you usually got off the art classes, and you wouldn’t have time to sit down and have a proper meal. To go food it is. Stupid Tsukishima, this was his fault.</p><p>“I’ll guess I’ll see you around then…” you gritted once more through your teeth.</p><p>“You’re leaving already? Thank goodness I’d never thought I’d have the peace and quiet,” Tsukishima said, focused on the folder in his hands.</p><p>“Then you’ll love the art classes” you rolled your eyes and slid into the jacket. “Peace and quiet…”</p><p>“I can read, but I’m not looking forward into babysitting.” He said and closed the binder in his hands.</p><p>“About that…is there a way to avoid them?” he stated, and you scoffed—the freaking audacity.</p><p>“You do realize that this was in your job description…or do you just pretend to be able to read?”</p><p>“Well,” you muttered, adjusting the cuffs.</p><p>You considered it, the thought in your head. Personally, you weren’t fond of the lame old museum tours…this could be a win-win situation and therefore suggested, “We could come to an arrangement that I do most of the arts classes, and you take over my tours. We have to do both either way…”</p><p>“Wow…an actual intelligent idea coming of your bird brain.”</p><p>You ignored his jab at you and glanced at your phone; dang it…it was getting late, you wouldn’t even have time to grab something from the convenience store.</p><p>“Yes, let’s talk about this on another day,” you said and started packing your bag.</p><p>“Got somewhere else to be?” Tsukishima sneered, “How’s that boyfriend of yours?”</p><p>“I don’t know how that is any of your business Tsukishima but no…” you sighed. “How about we discuss the schedule somewhere else…um…maybe tomorrow after school.”</p><p>Tsukishima considered then spoke up, “I can’t its Friday and…”</p><p>“Right,” you interrupted, suddenly remembering something that your roommate told you yesterday, “You have an away game and won’t be back until Saturday…”</p><p>Tsukishima faltered and raised a brow, wondering how you knew that, but nodded.</p><p>“Aight…” you said. “But you’ll be back here on Sunday?”</p><p>He nodded again and watched you scribble something on the last page of a Kiiroitori notepad on the desk, ripped the page off, and handed it to the tall blonde.</p><p>“Meet me at 2pm at this café,” you stated and shouldered your backpack, “I think you can see yourself outright? I really have to get going.”</p><p>Tsukishima nodded and stared at the last piece of paper from the notepad.</p><p>“Alright, then make sure to check if any windows are open, the AC is off and that the lights are switched off…also we’re almost the last ones in the break room. You have to check everything in there as well…if anything is wrong with your card go to the front desk and…”</p><p>“Yes, I know,” Tsukishima interrupted. “Stop babbling and get going…. geez I’m not one of these kids.”</p><p>“Right, you’re just a rude jackass” you rolled your eyes and spat, “Looking forward to work with you Tsukishima.”</p><p>You hoped that he heard the venom in your tone.</p><p>“Tsk…” he said. “Back at you…..”</p><p>“Good Luck against the Falcons” you sneered “Hope you break a finger and die…”</p><p>Tsukishima scoffed, “Nobody dies at Volleyball.”</p><p>“Believe me” you rolled your eyes” You think so highly of yourself that you’d be the first one. Or you’ll injure yourself because of your damn pride.</p><p> </p><p>
  
  
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</p><p> </p><p>Tsukishima Kei had the luxury to sleep in a little on Sunday and was happy to do so. His trip with the Sendai Frogs to play against the Red Falcons in Kyoto had been a good event. Though they had lost two of three practice matches, they got back into shape for the upcoming season.</p><p>Tsukishima had the time to eat breakfast and work a little on his homework, look over the dropbox folder before he got dressed, and went to the small café you had scribbled on that ridiculous notepad.</p><p>Golden eyes behind glasses looked around and saw the little café at the end of a plaza, right opposite the water fountain.  A few chairs and tables were outside, the metal was painted in pastel green, and the wood had a shabby-rustic design. All in all, cutesy but still a shabby-chic country house aesthetic. Niji-Café was written in cursives over the entrance.</p><p>Kei considered waiting outside after having a look into the café. There weren’t many customers, probably because breakfast and lunchtime were over. Anyway, he’d have seen you if you were inside. But no, the only people left were a middle-aged man behind a newspaper and what looked like two boys at the end of the café in a booth.</p><p>He glanced at his watch, 2.pm…. you were late. God damn it, you were annoying. Tardiness was never one of your strong suits, and you always seem to be rushing from one place to another. Preferably fast if your small legs allowed it, a lot of time Tsukishima had seen the burry of you dash across campus and even more that you had the tendency to spill whatever you were holding onto yourself…or others.</p><p>Stupid smoothie, by the time Tsukishima had gone home last week to change out of the stained pants, the color had seeped into the fabric. He may have also forgotten to soak the stain, and thus, the pants were unusable, but indeed it was all your fault.</p><p>Tardiness, you had a blabbermouth, were an insufferable know it, dressed like a bohemian dwarf, were annoying were some of the aspects Tsukishima would use to describe you. He didn’t even want to start thinking about the glares you send him every time your gazes met. He didn’t even know why you hated him so much, but so far, he came to the conclusion he hated you too.</p><p>The air was chilly today. It seemed like Autumn was announcing its arrival, and so, Tsukishima entered the café without you. It wasn’t his fault that you were late.</p><p>The first thing he saw that there was a large portion of the wall that was painted. Handpainted, depicting a variation of Monet’s famous water lily’s, but the colored were even more pastels.</p><p>“Welcome,” a voice behind the counter greeted him, and he saw a dark-haired girl, the name Tag Ree on her pastel blue apron. She seemed to recognize Kei and nodded “Ah…right…Tsukishima right? I’ll show you to your seat…”</p><p>She smiled and brought him to a booth close to the other side of the café, away from the guy reading a newspaper.</p><p>“Can I get you started on something?” she asked and gave him the menu.</p><p>“I’ll take a coffee…Americano,” Tsukishima said, glancing at the menu, then remembered his manners “Thanks…”</p><p>“Y/N will shortly be with you,” Tori gritted under her teeth “Nice for you to show up tho….”</p><p>Ree nodded and went back behind the counter and was joined by another light brown-haired girl who was just tying her apron’s bow around her waist and was glaring at him. Whispering something to Ree behind a hand. Ree looked at the girl and smiled, then shook her head. The other girl groaned and started making the coffee and brought it to him.</p><p>Tori, he read on her name tag.</p><p>Tsukishima didn’t know what was about and ignored it and sipped at his coffee and watched the fountain outside the window. A minute later, he heard the familiar rush of footsteps announced your arrival. Tsukishima was surprised to see you coming out of the doorway that leads to the backstage of the café.</p><p>You smile a little as you saw him, then you seemed to remember who was sitting there, and the smile disappeared. Your head turned to Tori and Ree, who were chatting by the coffee machine and clearing out the dishwasher and said something to them. The girls gave a chuckle, and Tori gestured a fist pounding into a hand, to which Ree laughed, and you rolled your eyes and ducked under the lid of the counter and joined him.</p><p>“Sorry, I’m late…I was changing” you said, plopping down onto the bench opposite of him “Got some food on my shirt and had to get rid of the stain in the back.”</p><p>“You have a habit of spilling stuff all over you” Tsukishima said.</p><p>“Staring with the insults bright and early ay?” you shrugged and took out a folder from your bag “What a wonderful way to spend your Sunday. Let’s get this over with…”</p><p>“Right,” Tsukishima said and got out his own planner “So you mentioned that you prefer the Thursday course.”</p><p>“Yes…pretty much, it’s easier for me to work back to back on Thursdays…” you stated. When Tsukishima raised an eyebrow, you explained, “I rather have a full day and have the luxury of having days were I don’t work than work a little every day…”</p><p>He still looked confused.</p><p>“After the lesson’s I work here…at the café” you explained, pointing at the counter.</p><p>“Ah…okay…” he shrugged and sipped coffee.  He assumed so far since you came out of the backstage entry and talked about food spilled on you. But still…he was curious.</p><p>“You work three jobs?” he asked, remembering all three, museum, café, and the student assistant.</p><p>“Money,” you shrugged “The job at the café pays me more than the two others combined. I do the student jobs on my off days, it’s really not much work and doesn’t pay well…but I like Sensei and it’s good on applications and stuff and the museum job is for me to have some practical experience in the field…it also helped with getting the internship… that’s why you took the job right?”</p><p>Tsukishima nodded. He originally wanted to intern at the museum’s natural history, but they didn’t offer internships. His thought was that if he worked well in the art department internship, the director would eventually offer him a transfer position….if not he’d get a better chance to get a job after graduation.  </p><p>“He’re your drink Y/N…I also saved you a bagel” the voice of the waitress named Tori made Tsukishima look up from his notes. She was yet again glaring at him.</p><p>“Tori…be nice” you warned and rolled your eyes.</p><p>“If he makes you cry… I’ll hurt him” Tori hissed loud enough for everyone to hear.</p><p>“Okay…you will…” you mumbled and gently patted her hip to get her moving.</p><p>“What was that about?” Tsukishima asked, raising an eyebrow.</p><p>“Nothing” you said, waving it off “So about the schedule…Hokusai-san said that you have to do some of the classes and I have to tour…I suggest that I take the Sunday afternoon tours for kids and you join me on Thursdays…since both are our busier days…”</p><p>Tsukishima nodded “I’ll take the the rest of the tours and you’ll take over the classes on Monday afternoon?”</p><p>You nodded, biting into the bagel. “On days when you have games on the week end…I can take over if you do the same for some of my classes in return. I’ll look at the schedule of your games when I get home and text you”</p><p>Tsukishima hesitated, then smirked “How do you know my game schedule?”</p><p>You rolled your eyes “I just do…”</p><p>“Are you perhaps a fan?” he smirked a little behind his cup.</p><p>“Oh yes, clearly” you rolled your eyes “Dumbass, I share a flat with Kyotani”</p><p>That was a shocker, and Tsukishima genuinely looked surprised.  He knew that his elder teammate Kyotani “Mad-Dog” Kentarou, a former player for Aoba Josei, lived with a girl. It was obvious one time the team had come over for after practice games drinks, but the roommate wasn’t there that day.</p><p>Kyotani had said that his roommate was a year younger than him and went to the same school as him, was friends with a few of his younger teammates, and it had just worked out.</p><p>“You live with him voluntarily?” Tsukishima shook his head “And I thought my opinion of you couldn’t sink any lower.”</p><p>“Aww…cute…put that comment please into my special cookie jar for I don’t give a fuck” you hissed defensively. True Mad Dog was a menace on the court, but actually, he was a much calmer person than in high school. The dude volunteered at animal shelters to walk the dogs, for god’s sake. “I’m surprised that your oh so intelligent brain didn’t connect the dots…”</p><p>“Correction…I didn’t think that Kyotani-san would aim so low and live with you.” Tsukishima countered.</p><p>“Once more, I don’t give a fuck…” you rolled your eyes and took a sip of your coffee, burned yourself on your tongue, yelped, and cursed as the liquid splashed on your shirt.</p><p>“You really are incapable of doing the most mundane of tasks…” Tsukishima assessed, cross-armed and leaning back on the bench</p><p>A snicker was heard from the other booth where Tsukishima remembered that two males were sitting. He was surprised to see Kunimi Akira’s face pop up from there, grinning at the two of them. The other male, Kindaichi, nodded. “Sup Tsukishima….”</p><p>You glared and reached out to grab a napkin to dab at the spot and realized that there were none on the table. You turned your head around the booth and said</p><p>“Hey, Akira could you pass me a tissue”?</p><p>“What are they doing here?” Tsukishima asked.</p><p>“Mooching off” you stated and grabbed the tissues and tried to save your shirt.</p><p>“We are regular customers” Kindaichi argued.</p><p>“You’ be customers if you actually paid for the stuff and don’t let me handle your tab” you rolled your eyes “You got your breakfast and your lunch…so why are you still here.”</p><p>“Hanging out with our favorite person in the whole wide world” Kunimi deadpanned.</p><p>You sighed and gave up on the spot on your shirt “The two of you mooch around at my apartment often enough I don’t need you bugging me at my work place. Get lost”</p><p>“Only because you say so princess” Kunimi snickered and got up; he glanced at the end of the café where the man behind the newspaper had been sitting. He was gone now. Kunimi nodded at Kindaichi, then the two of them waved goodbye at you and Tsukishima.</p><p>“Nice of you to show up this time” Kindaichi said to Tsukishima. Once again, the blonde middle blocker wondered why this argument came up again. He glanced at you, who hid her face in her palm, groaning.</p><p>One day I swear I’m going to strangle you and whip that stupid condescending expression off your face!</p><p>You looked up as you felt his questioning look on you.</p><p>He quirked an eyebrow. Silently urging you to explain. Your mouth opened in shock, and a realization hit you. Oh…. he didn’t even remember.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I hope you enjoyed my bi weekly tsukishima brainrot.</p><p>Tell. Me what you think. </p><p> </p><p>Ree and Tori are based on @u-make-my-heart-tsumtsum and @akaashi-bby on tumblr. Check them out if you want ✨</p>
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<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Endless Sky</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Chapter Three: Sorry I was off this fic for so long. I am being honest, I was really not in the mood to write it.  </p><p>In this Chapter, which is a little shorter than the others we take a trip into the past, what exactly happened that made Y/N hate Tsukishima so much.  Feel free to comment, keyboard smash and share your opinion :)</p>
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  <em>Why must handsome guys be such assholes?</em>
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  <em>Was your first thought on your first day of university. It was orientation week; you had moved into your dorms this weekend after a long discussion and fight with your parents that ended disastrously once more. Orientation week at university, and you were on your own on campus. Kindaichi, the traitor, had gone off to study in Saitama since he was able to get a spot as a part-time player for the Tamaden Elephants.</em>
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  <em>As you entered campus that day and the big introductory ceremony had ended, some of your senpai’s from the university student council had distributed small cards with different Pokémon on them. They were used to be divided into groups for orientation week, so you had to say goodbye to Kunimi, who was in the Charmander group while you were stuck with Grimer.</em>
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  <em>The group of 30 students gathered and started to chat a little, but you were too anxious to talk to anybody there and stayed in the background until one of the senpai’s voices announced that the group would make departure to a lecture hall so everyone could introduce themselves.</em>
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  <em>At first, you hadn’t seen the tall blonde glasses-wearing boy that was trotting behind the group. Mainly because you were too busy picking at the hems of your shirt, but he had noticed you.</em>
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  <em>Tsukishima didn’t know where he had seen you before, but he could not put his mind to it….for some stupid reason, he thought of aqua blue when he tried to puzzle it together. But he could be mistaken.</em>
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  <em>The phone in his pocket kept buzzing, messages from the Karasuno group chat...or rather the former group chat because they had graduated. Hinata was preparing for Brazil while Kageyama had moved to Tokyo for his professional career, he Yamaguchi and Yachi had stayed in Miyagi.</em>
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  <em>“So...everyone can come up to the front, tell us your majors and something about yourself.” one of the senpais told them “Let’s start here….”</em>
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  <em>Tsukishima didn’t pay much attention to unnecessary imbeciles he would not remember after this week; this university was big. He was not looking forward to making a ton of friends here.</em>
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  <em>The phone in his pockets kept buzzing, so he eventually had to take it out and grunt at the mass messages Hinata was sending them. He frustratingly replied a quick text to shut him up.</em>
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  <em>You, meanwhile, were listening patiently and nervously as the others introduced themselves, somehow trying to cling to any information. Names, majors, minors...hobbies...but nothing seemed to last in your own brain, not even your own name and hobbies, god-damn it. Say something interesting. You urged your brain to come up with something. I like to paint...I went to school with a bunch of Volleyball weirdos. My parents wanted me to go to Shiratorizawa...but nobody cared about High School in Uni.</em>
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  <em>A gentle nudge from the boy next to you pulled you out of your head, and you were reminded that it was now your turn to get up and introduce yourself. Of course, you managed to make yourself look like an idiot in front of all the others. First, you jolted up to quickly to act cool, then your shoes got stuck in the loops of your backpack on the ground, which made you trip.</em>
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  <em>Light chuckles echoed in your red-tipped ears as you shuffled to the front and faced a crowd of people. Some of them looking more interested than others, a few girls in the back looked you up and down, giggling at you with pointed fingers. Rude.</em>
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  <em>The senpai to your left encouraged you to introduce yourself. You started rattling down your name, age, and subjects, then told them that you were a painter and worked on several projects in Sendai before, one of them being a street art project about spraying artwork over ugly graffiti. You smiled at the memory, and it made you confident as one of the senpais said that he recalls some of the artwork in the city. You nodded, confirming that it was, in fact, your work that was under the Bridge near the McDonalds. The crowd seemed impressed by this, the chatter dying down when all of a sudden, a boy, the tall blonde one with the glasses who muttered, “Shut up already”.</em>
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  <em>Tsukishima was annoyed by the constant stream of messages one ginger coil spring kept mass sending to the group chat. He wanted to listen to the girl who stumbled her way to the front earlier. She seemed familiar, somehow...he might have seen her at games maybe, aqua blue...why were his thoughts of you or the memory he was grasping for in his mind clouded by aqua blue.</em>
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  <em>The phone buzzed again; Hinata mass texted photos of their graduation, claiming he was missing them all, and Tsukishima couldn’t help but curse.</em>
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  <em>It was the others’ reaction in the room that were shocked, some of them nervously laughing. The red face of the girl who was talking about her art made him realize, he cursed out loud, and everyone thought it was about her.</em>
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  <em>She was smiling in a pained way and was visibly embarrassed. Her face flushed as she quickly sat down again and hung her head. Great, Kei thought, I was an ass without even wanting it. On his first day.</em>
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  <em>Shit. Kei didn’t pay much attention to the others, not even when he grumbly introduced himself briefly, his gaze only focused on the girl who he had called out even though he had not done so. The guy next to her, a sun-kissed guy with light sun-bleached streaks in his brown hair, had offered her some tissues and was glancing at her, so Kei assumed she was taken care of.</em>
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  <em>Yet when they disbursed into smaller groups to have a campus tour, Tsukishima approached the girl.</em>
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  <em>“Hey...listen,” he said and fumbled with his fingers, “Sorry about earlier…”</em>
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  <em>The girl whipped around hesitantly, eyes squinting up at him in distaste.</em>
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  <em>“I’m really sorry I was replying….I meant my phone” Tsukishima explained and wondered if it made him look like a fool.</em>
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  <em>“Do you habitually talk to electronic devices?” she smiled a little, and somehow that showed her she wasn’t outraged. He gave her a short smile. She was pretty, he noticed. That meant, as far as he could tell, objectively, that is.</em>
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  <em>Tsukishima tried to ignore the phone’s buzzing in his pocket, but you were noticing the constant noise.</em>
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  <em>An eyebrow quirked, amused at his annoyed expression. He was cute, frowning and pouting like that “You can look at your phone you know….maybe mute it.”</em>
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  <em>You said and watched him sigh and pull out the device, muttering cursed as he typed away an answer.</em>
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  <em>He was cute, charming...concentrated golden eyes, like sunlight in fall behind the glasses, his hair was blonde, and maybe if he grew it out, it would look better. You caught yourself thinking. Gold was a beautiful color. Luck was supposed to be liquidized gold at least the luck potion in Harry Potter was this color. Something in your mind, maybe the crazy part that wasn’t rational, made you wanna drink up the cup of luck. Try it. Spoke to you</em>
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  <em>“You know” you started and gulped down the big clump that somehow had began to grow in your throat, “you could make it up to me if you meet me for coffee”</em>
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  <em>You grinned a little as she said it, proud of yourself that you managed to utter coherent words. Tsukishima glanced at you briefly and nodded “Sure I like coffee…”</em>
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  <em>“Cool” you smiled and almost made a happy dance in front of him, but managed not to do so “So there is this new café called Niji...how about on Friday at four?”</em>
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  <em>Tsukishima absentmindedly tapped something into his phone, muttering a “Sure…”</em>
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  <em>“Cool,” your words were repetitive, so you asked, “I didn’t catch your name…”</em>
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  <em>“Tsukishima Kei,” he said, looking up from his phone and looked at you, wondering why you were practically bouncing on the balls of your feet and swinging your hands. Maybe you had to go pee or something. The phone in his hand ringed, and he sighed as he saw the screen showing the number of the Sendai Frogs manager, they were supposed to train together on Friday for the first time. “Sorry I need to get to this...um why don’t you go and join the tour...this will take a while. See you later I guess...”</em>
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  <em>“Sure, see ya” you nodded and turned around, trying not to skip in excitement as he just confirmed your date for Friday.</em>
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  <em>Getting to know his University Campus, settling into his dorm, and training with his new team was one thing. To his luck freaking Kyotani Kentarou was one of his teammates and Koganegawa, who immediately told everyone of the Sendai Frogs to call him Tsukki, great. Yachi, Yamaguchi, and Hinata wanted to meet up to catch up. Something in Tsukishima’s head, he could not remember what told him he forgot something. The feeling nagged inside his mind. Of course, it had to be sometime past midnight on Sunday when he had his first class ever on Monday at 8.</em>
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  <em>So naturally, it was that he missed his alarm and was late and only could thank his condition that he managed to jog over to the lecture hall building and save up the time he had lost. He didn’t even need to stop and only did so right in front of the door of his first seminar so that he would not sneak in totally out of breath.</em>
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  <em>He panted, rubbing his side a little to ease the stinging when rapid steps approached his ear, and something, or better, someone ran into his back and landed on the ground with a thump. Next, he heard the sound of something spilling and a loud curse.</em>
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  <em>Tsukishima, barely impacted in his stance, turned around to see the girl from the first day of orientation day, a coffee tumbler on the ground next to her. The brown liquid spilling onto the marble tiles and seeping into the light-washed jeans.</em>
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  <em>Her head whipped up at him, first anger then realization, and finally fury flashed in her eyes in a mere second “You fucking asshole!”, she screamed on top of her lungs so that some of the onlookers in the hallway watched them curiously. She was pointing a finger of hers at him, and Tsukishima noticed that paint had dried on her nails, multiple colors and too messy to be deliberate.</em>
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  <em>“Oh... it’s you..-I” Tsukishima started and wanted to offer her a hand, but the girl had already jumped up and grabbed her tumbler</em>
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  <em>“Stay the heck away from me, you enormous jerk, “she pushed him aside, with much more force than her petite body should have been able to muster up. She let out another huff and opened the door so roughly that it slammed into Tsukishima’s toes.</em>
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  <em>“Oi...watch it” he cursed as pain charged up his foot, but the stupid girl didn’t glance back or had the decency to apologize. Not like he cared.</em>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“So yeah,” you said, putting down the now empty cup of coffee onto the little pastel green coaster; a finger of yours traced the darker shaded swirl patterns “You stood me up back then…”</p><p>“Wait a minute,” Tsukishima blinked, trying to wrap his head around this, to him new information, “You were pissed at me because I stood you up? That wasn’t even a date or anything.”</p><p>You huffed, shaking your head at his bluntness, “Don’t know if you are away that the term sure is one that positively affirms sentences...and you affirmed the time and date.”</p><p>Kei supposed he did, somehow…but it was her, she was stupid enough not to confirm with him again during the week. And heck how was he supposed to contact her anyway? He didn’t have her number or name for god’s sake.</p><p>“But it’s all good o’now,” you shrugged in a lack of interest, “I soon found out that there was nothing to you anyway...you were arrogant, and annoying and a know-it-all. So I guessed I got pretty lucky even though I was stood up by you.”</p><p>The fact that you sat there waiting for two and more hours until one of the waitresses took pity on you and talked with you and made you a latte on the house and offered you a job.</p><p>Tsukishima was at a loss for words as he glanced at you, your finger tracing the pattern on the coaster still, eyes fixed on the fountain outside avoiding his gaze.</p><p>“Y/N….” he started, but you quickly snapped your head at him</p><p>“It’s fine. We don’t really need to talk this through alright, we just need to work together.” You said smiling at him, but it didn’t reach your eyes. You were faking it, he realized.</p><p>“Fine…” Tsukishima leaned back in his chair, finishing up his own Americano, he glanced back at the counter the waitresses Ree and Tori were watching them, not even pretending not to eavesdrop on their conversation. Tori was polishing the same glass for the last ten minutes, and Ree was pocking an already eaten cheesecake with a fork.</p><p>No wonder they had an antipathy against him, Tsukishima thought, for them he was a jackass who stood up a girl years ago.</p><p>“So are you already done with Chuku-sensei’s assignment?” you asked all of a sudden because the silence between you was vexing you “I was about to work on it...wanna compare notes?”</p><p>Tsukishima agreed and pulled out his own laptop. The two of you typed away, compared notes, and occasionally cursed that the other was typing, breathing, or sipping too loudly.</p><p>It was around 5.00, and the sky had started to change its color, the light blue getting darker as you stood up and started packing your things “I better get going I am supposed to make dinner tonight…” you sighed, zipping up your backpack.</p><p>Tsukishima collected his own clutter and grabbed his coat to get out his wallet.</p><p>“No need,” you said, slipping into your coat, “Already taken care of...”</p><p>“I don’t need you to pay for my food and drinks,” he rolled his eyes.</p><p>“I know that,” you defended, “But it’s really not that big of a deal.”</p><p>But Kei shook his head and put some money under the empty cup of the Americano, “I’m gonna pay for my own stuff.”</p><p>“Fine,” you rolled your eyes glancing over at the counter where Ree and Tori were busy prepping some sandwiches for the evening hours. Their shift would end around 8...it was a little too long to stay here.</p><p>“You’re leaving?” Tori asked, eying Tsukishima, “Oh and not paying for her...rude…”</p><p>He huffed and quickly stepped out of the cafe.</p><p>“It’s not like we are on a date Tori,” you sighed and waved her off.</p><p>“Definitely, Coffee-shop Au’s have more pining in them,” Ree added smugly, glancing between Tsukishima and you; this was the cue for you to get out of here.</p><p>“Alright, see you girls later” you smiled and waved, made your way to the exit, and almost ran into Tsukishima’s back again.</p><p>“Oi” you pushed him gently, he did not move “Stopping in the way where people walk is rude”</p><p>Tsukishima was on his phone, currently looking for a playlist while ear pods were already in. Not being able to hear your complaints, and he didn’t feel your pushing until you used enormous force.</p><p>“Watch it you gremlin,” he mutters, stepping aside. Meanwhile, you were ready to throw another insult at him, tell him a piece of your mind, but something else caught your eye.</p><p>“Oh” your eyes grew big as you saw the sky, fluffy clouds of white looking like cotton candy where interlaces with rays of sun peaking out. They ran down in diagonal lines as if angels decided to streak the atmosphere with an orange-golden filter of halos. Some parts of the sky were already starting to get pink...the beauty of fall was announcing itself slowly. You couldn’t wait for the mesmerizing sunsets of this season.</p><p>You immediately thought you wanted to capture the sky’s bliss in a painting and once more regretted that you couldn’t carry oil colors and a canvas wherever you go. Instead, you decided to take out your phone and take pictures of the sky.</p><p>Tsukishima was also ready to throw another insult at him, tell him a piece of his mind, but the look on your face of delight as you viewed the sky stopped him in his tracks. He saw the tip of your tongue peeking out a little as you snapped pictures, changing your position now and then to get the entirety of the blue.</p><p>In the corner of his peripheral vision, he saw a figure standing in the shade of a street lamp. Tsukishima recognized that it was the man from the cafe, the one who had been reading the newspaper, who now was still reading the same newspaper. Strange. He thought for a second but then shook his head and glanced back at you, now flipping through your phone humming happily.</p><p>“I’m gonna paint this…” you declared to nobody in particular, then remembered that Tsukishima was still there “What do you want creep?”</p><p>Your eyes flickered past him and caught the man standing under the streetlight, too, crap. You thought and shuffled a little closer to Tsukishima “You know what...Tsukishima...since you are already here you can walk me to my bus stop...you know to make it up for being a rude-know-it-all.”</p><p>“What?” Kei puffed out a snort that was more like a burst of condescending laughter “Are you trying to guilt-trip me?”</p><p>“There is nothing to be guilty about,” you rolled your eyes “I….wanted to hear more on your thoughts about the assignment form Chuku…”</p><p>“Fine…” Tsukishima rolled his eyes “But don’t you dare steal one of my arguments you bloodsucker.”</p><p>Do I need to remind you that I am much further in my assignment than your sorry beanpole ass?”</p><p>“Try to keep up will you,” he said, already walking away into the direction of the next bus stop, “Both mentally and phsysicalla that is pipsuqeak.”</p><p>As he was walking away, sunlight caught his blonde hair, making it look like a halo crowed his head. The caramel-colored coat was not helping much. You cursed.</p><p>Why must handsome guys be such assholes?</p>
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